2009: The Year of BBC Red Button

This year has been the most successful year in BBC Red Button's history and, with an average of over 11 million people pressing red each week, there's been more interactive content launched this year than ever before.

With exclusive Christmas content, including 24 "how to" guides to help create your own Victorian Christmas in combination with BBC Two's Victorian Farm Christmas, and the now famous karaoke Christmas Top Of The Pops, the team behind red button are gearing up to end the year with a bang.

After celebrating its 10th anniversary in November 2008, this year audiences have tuned in to watch traditional favourites like Wimbledon and the Eurovision Song Contest, and been treated to new and exciting innovations such as the BBC Proms "Maestro-cam", an innovative F1 experience and a brand-new CBeebies service, tailored to each digital TV platform.

The new animated Doctor Who series, Dreamland, saw almost a million people press red to watch the new six-part series and just over a million watched Robbie Williams perform three exclusive tracks on the red button as part of his appearance on Friday Night With Jonathan Ross.

John Denton, Managing Editor, BBC Red Button, said: "This year has proven that audiences love choice and enjoy the extra interactivity that the red button service can provide and we're pleased that, as UK television becomes fully digital, we've been able to take this incredible performance to even more viewers."

It's not just the amount of people using the service that has made this year so successful for this platform, BBC software engineers have extended red button technology to deliver BBC iPlayer to new audiences via Virgin Media and Freesat, allowing people to catch up with their favourite BBC programmes on their televisions in the living room.

Rahul Chakkara, Controller of TV Platforms for BBC Future Media & Technology, said: "From the initial development work conducted by the BBC Research & Development team, followed up by the breakthrough innovation of our 2001 Wimbledon coverage, the red button service has redefined what was possible on the television screen.

"Today the BBC offers one of the leading interactive television services in the world. With the internet reaching television devices, we aim to produce more innovative and valuable services that will continue to delight our audience."